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Full-Text Articles in Religious Education
Evidence For Tents In The Book Of Mormon, John L. Sorenson
Evidence For Tents In The Book Of Mormon, John L. Sorenson
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
One of the minor points made in recent criticisms of the Book of Mormon is the claim that there is no evidence of a tent-making or tent-using tradition in Mesoamerica and no available material for making the tents that the Book of Mormon mentions. Actually, Mesoamericanist literature makes it clear that tents were in regular use by Aztec armies at the time of the Spanish conquest, and there is good reason to suppose that they were used by other peoples and in earlier times (including Nephite times) in Mesoamerica.
Revisiting The Land Of Jerusalem Via The Dead Sea Scrolls, Gordon C. Thomasson
Revisiting The Land Of Jerusalem Via The Dead Sea Scrolls, Gordon C. Thomasson
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
For over 160 years, beginning at least with the 1833 publication of Alexander Campbell's Delusions, countless critics have claimed that the Book of Mormon's use of the phrase "land of Jerusalem" was a major error and proof that the book was false. They especially criticized the use of this phrase in reference to the place where Christ would be born. That phrase was not used in the Bible nor in the Apocrypha. Therefore, the critics concluded, it was an example of Joseph Smith's ignorance and evidence that he had tried to perpetrate a fraud. (For a thorough overview of …
What Does Recent Scholarship Really Say About The Book Of Mormon
What Does Recent Scholarship Really Say About The Book Of Mormon
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
A recently published collection of essays purports to examine the Book of Mormon using the latest scholarly tools and information. The authors of New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology assert that such scholarship shows the Book of Mormon is not of ancient origin, that it was written, not translated, by Joseph Smith in the nineteenth century and reflects that time and that time alone.
New Farms Book Shows Olive Tree Allegory Merits Honor And Attention
New Farms Book Shows Olive Tree Allegory Merits Honor And Attention
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
One of the most magnificent allegories in all of sacred literature, Zenos's allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5, is the focus of a new collection of essays by LDS scholars: The Allegory of the Olive Tree: The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5. The result of more than ten years of research, culminating in the 1992 annual F.A.R.M.S. symposium, these twenty-one essays by twenty LDS scholars examine the allegory of the olive tree and related topics from many perspectives, including historical, botanical, symbolic, religious, linguistic, and theological. Stephen D. Ricks and John W. Welch, both professors at …
Volunteers Translate A Popular Video Transcript
Volunteers Translate A Popular Video Transcript
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Thanks to the generous efforts of some student volunteers, the transcript of one of the more popular videos in the FARMS Book of Mormon Lecture Series has been translated into both German and Spanish. Daniel C. Peterson's "A Scholar Looks at Evidences for the Book of Mormon" discusses recent research that supports the spiritual witness for the Book of Mormon, including such things as the translation process, studies of chiasmus, possible locations for events, ancient manuscripts that document practices and beliefs of past civilizations that are consistent with Book of Mormon accounts, Joseph's supposed misnaming of Jesus' birthplace, Joseph's lack …
Lectures Honor Sperry's Work On The Book Of Mormon
Lectures Honor Sperry's Work On The Book Of Mormon
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
On October 7, 1995, hundreds of people gathered at BYU to attend the 24th annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, sponsored by Religious Education and the Church Educational System. Members of the Sperry family, faculty and students from BYU, and many other students of the scriptures heard five speakers address gospel topics in the 100th anniversary year of Sperry's birth. Papers from the symposium are being published by Deseret Book (available January 2). You may order a copy using the enclosed order form and we will mail it to you as soon as it is available.
Journal Of Book Of Mormon Studies Publishes Second Issue For 1995
Journal Of Book Of Mormon Studies Publishes Second Issue For 1995
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Final editorial work is being completed on the Fall 1995 issue of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (volume 4, number 2), which should be ready to mail soon after you receive this issue of Insights. This issue has a decidedly literary bent. Of the five major articles, three consider the topics of narrative criticism, poetic diction and parallel word pairs, and chiasmus. A fourth takes a literary view of the book of Mosiah.
Make 1996 A Book Of Mormon Year For Someone Special With An Insights Gift Subscription
Make 1996 A Book Of Mormon Year For Someone Special With An Insights Gift Subscription
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Insights newsletter is the best source for solid, reliable information about Book of Mormon research. Since the LDS Church course of study for 1996 will be the Book of Mormon, you can make the year a Book of Mormon year for your friends and family by giving them an Insights gift subscription to enrich their study.
Brown Bags Continue
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Rocks, radar, and writers--these have been the topics of the most recent presentations at the FARMS brown bag seminar at BYU. John L. Sorenson, professor emeritus of Anthropology at BYU, spoke about writers, or more accurately, about the authorship of the Book of Mormon. He pointed out that Joseph Smith apparently thought that the Book of Mormon applied to all of North and South America, yet the book fits only a limited Mesoamerican setting. If Joseph had made up the setting or used what he knew about the world, it would not have matched so well a part of the …
Benjamin's Tower And Old Testament Pillars, John W. Welch, Terry L. Szink
Benjamin's Tower And Old Testament Pillars, John W. Welch, Terry L. Szink
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
While scholars are uncertain about the precise nature of the ammud (see August 1995 Insights), it is clear that it was something other than a pillar. Roland deVaux imagines the king "standing on a pedestal" where presumably he worshipped God. Gerhard von Rad, commenting on the pillars in 2 Kings, sees them as some kind of high, narrow platform.
Farms Enters Cyberspace
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
People interested in Book of Mormon studies and the activities of FARMS who have computer modems now have online access to FARMS information and some FARMS papers, and more material is being added regularly. FARMS has a small library located in the Nauvoo section of America Online and a HomePage on the World Wide Web, an international network of computers.
Mineral Survey Completed
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Eugene E. Clark has just returned from a month-long, FARMS-sponsored field survey in Oman, looking for sources of iron ore that could have been used by Nephi to make shipbuilding tools.
Joseph's Translation Seems To Differ From Kjv Usage, Terrence L. Szink
Joseph's Translation Seems To Differ From Kjv Usage, Terrence L. Szink
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In Mosiah 1:14, King Benjamin reminds his son Mosiah that if the Lord "had not extended his arm in the preservation of our fathers they must have fallen into the hands of the Lamanites." The English words used in this translation of the ancient record differ from those used for the same concepts in the English translation in the King James Version (KJV) of the Old Testament, thus shedding light on how independent Joseph Smith may have been from KJV phraseology in his translation.
Upgrading The Farms-Byu Connection
Upgrading The Farms-Byu Connection
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The unique and productive relationship that Brigham Young University and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies have enjoyed for nearly fifteen years has recently been elevated to a new level of cooperation. While FARMS continues to be an independently managed and independently funded foundation, the BYU Board of Trustees has now endorsed a protocol between BYU and FARMS that expands the range of opportunities for cooperation on scholarly work on the Book of Mormon and related topics.
Upon The Tower Of Benjamin, John W. Welch, Terry L. Szink
Upon The Tower Of Benjamin, John W. Welch, Terry L. Szink
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
When King Benjamin crowned his son Mosiah, all the people in Zarahemla sat in tents around the temple while Benjamin addressed them. Because he "could not teach them all within the walls of the temple, therefore he caused a tower to be erected, that thereby his people might hear the words which he should speak unto them" (Mosiah 2:7). Was the need to improve the acoustics the only reason for the construction of this tower? Recent research has discovered ancient precedents for the use of such "towers" in royal convocations and coronation ceremonies. These biblical and Jewish precedents are not …
Annual Symposium Examines The Role And Influence Of The Writings Of Isaiah In The Book Of Mormon
Annual Symposium Examines The Role And Influence Of The Writings Of Isaiah In The Book Of Mormon
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Approximately 600 students of the scriptures from throughout Utah and from other parts of the United States gathered in Provo on May 20 for the Eighth Annual FARMS Symposium. This year's theme, "Isaiah in the Book of Mormon," inspired presentations in areas as diverse as textual analysis, doctrinal exposition, manuscript transmission, imagery and poetics, word print studies, and intellectual history.
Preliminary Study Identifies Possible Sources For Nephi's Ore
Preliminary Study Identifies Possible Sources For Nephi's Ore
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The efforts begun by Warren and Michaela Aston to identify important sites along the Lehi trail eventually evolved into a FARMS project and exploration to Southern Oman's Dhofar region in 1992. The remote area of Wadi Sayq in that region has been identified as a location that appears to meet all of the criteria one can infer from the text of the Book of Mormon for the coastal site named Bountiful by Lehi and his family, where they lived while building a ship for their ocean crossing.
Old World People In The New? (Part 2), John L. Sorenson
Old World People In The New? (Part 2), John L. Sorenson
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The Quiche Indian tradition of "Toltec" migrants from the Near East reaching Mesoamerica (see Insights, April 1995) may be of interest in relation to new linguistic research reported by a senior linguist at one of this country's most prestigious universities. Copies of two papers outlining her findings have become available; however she insists that their contents not be attributed to her until they have been formally published.
Review Begins New Features: Picks And Index
Review Begins New Features: Picks And Index
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In the latest Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, editor Daniel Peterson selects the books he would most recommend to his readers from among those published in 1994. The book by Warren and Michaela Aston is the most highly recommended in this issue: In the Footsteps of Lehi: New Evidence for Lehi's Journey across Arabia to Bountiful (reviewed by Ara Norwood). Peterson recommends the book enthusiastically for its "brief and rather personal summary of the authors' extremely important research into the Arabian geography" that might correspond to 1 Nephi.
What Puts A City On The Map? A Book Of Mormon Brain Teaser
What Puts A City On The Map? A Book Of Mormon Brain Teaser
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Each of the cities on the left was important in Book of Mormon history. Match each one with the correct situation or event on the right. See the answers on page 8--or better yet, open the Book of Mormon and get the full story.
New Video Lectures
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Two new lectures are available in the FARMS Book of Mormon Lecture Series. Dale Le Baron, associate professor of Church History at BYU, discusses how the Book of Mormon presents "A Pattern for Preparing a People to Meet Christ." This pattern includes: know the signs of the second coming; beware of wickedness; know the patterns of destruction; believe that despite persecution, righteousness will prevail; heed the counsel of the prophets; and study the ministry and the return of Christ. The Lord's elect are responsible for preparing his people for the second coming of the Savior. Brother LeBaron counsels us to …
Brown Bags Report Preliminary Research Findings
Brown Bags Report Preliminary Research Findings
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The first three presentations of 1995 at the FARMS brown bag seminar (held every other week at BYU) reported on research in progress on topics as diverse as errors in the transmission of the biblical text of Samuel, the Egyptian roots for Hebrew religious terminology, and a hierarchy of settlements in the Book of Mormon.
Old World People In The New? (Part 1), John L. Sorenson
Old World People In The New? (Part 1), John L. Sorenson
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Joseph Smith is said, in 1842, to have "quoted with approval from the pulpit reports of certain Toltec legends which would make it appear that those people had come originally from the Near East in the time of Moses"; he did not connect the purported migration at all to the Book of Mormon.
1994 Updates Available
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
What the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal about the "land of Jerusalem"; the use of metal plates for writing in the ancient world; evidence for tents in ancient Mesoamerica; the lack of a library in Harmony, New York; and evidence that helps to make sense of the "decapitation" of Shiz - these are the topics illuminated in the 6 F.A.R.M.S. Updates published during 1994 in Insights, the F.A.R.M.S. newsletter. The collection is a handy compilation for regular readers and a great way to introduce your friends to F.A.R.M.S. and to the latest in Book of Mormon research. See the reverse of …
Temple Sermons Are Focus Of Video Lecture
Temple Sermons Are Focus Of Video Lecture
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Clark Johnson, professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU, discusses "Temple Sermons in the Book of Mormon" as the next offering in the F.A.R.M.S. Book of Mormon Video Lecture Series (to order, see the reverse of this form) . He examines sermons given by Jacob, Benjamin, Limhi, and the Savior to Nephites gathered at a temple, analyzing each briefly to see how it teaches "the doctrine of the temple." He also discusses how each sermon relates to things that we experience and learn in our latter-day temples.
The Allegory Of The Olive Tree, Stephen D. Ricks, John W. Welch
The Allegory Of The Olive Tree, Stephen D. Ricks, John W. Welch
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5 is one of the most magnificent allegories in all of sacred literature. The essays in The Allegory of the Olive Tree examine this allegory and related topics from many perspectives, and in doing so they not only illuminate the meaning of this portion of the Book of Mormon, they also increase our understanding of much that is contained in the New Testament. The olive is a powerful image in the New Testament, and the efforts of these authors to understand that image and its use in the allegory shed light on …
New F.A.R.M.S. Series Answers Book Of Mormon Criticisms
New F.A.R.M.S. Series Answers Book Of Mormon Criticisms
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Over the years, many F.A.R.M.S. readers have called or written to ask questions about the Book of Mormon. As we have prepared answers, we have found that many questions are asked over and over again, and that publications attacking the Book of Mormon repeat the same criticisms over and over.
On The Right Or Left: Benjamin And The Scapegoat, Terrence L. Szink, John W. Welch
On The Right Or Left: Benjamin And The Scapegoat, Terrence L. Szink, John W. Welch
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Over the years, scholars have found in King Benjamin's speech much that is at home in the ancient Israelite autumn festivals surrounding the Day of Atonement. An essential part of that day was the scapegoat ritual.
Journal Presents Another Interdisciplinary Look At The Book Of Mormon
Journal Presents Another Interdisciplinary Look At The Book Of Mormon
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
The fall issue of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, now available on the enclosed order form, features articles that examine the Book of Mormon in terms of theology, chronology, textual analysis, Jewish customs, and even engineering principles. Articles include the following.
Reprint Clarifies Issues On Geographies Focused On New York
Reprint Clarifies Issues On Geographies Focused On New York
Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
A new FARMS Reprint makes available portions of three publications from the 1980s that retain their value for providing insights into Book of Mormon geography. In "A Key for Evaluating Nephite Geographies," reprinted from the first issue (1989) of the Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, John Clark elucidates what the Book of Mormon itself says that can be used to construct a basic framework for a Book of Mormon geography. He focuses especially on those references that give relative distances or directions between various locations. The resulting framework provides an excellent test for proposed geographies.